College Degree vs. Certification, or both?

I am currently enrolled in my community college and they have a AS degree in computer networking, which I am pursuing, comprised of a few sections:

1. Scaled down generals (science, English, math etc…)
2. Basics of A+ certification and iNet lab, I believe the last one has something to do with electronics.
3. CNA (Novell Administrator)
4. MCSE (Microsoft Certified Engineer)

Now that I have explained what I am in, here is the kicker, at the rate of half the section taught each fall semester I’ve figured it to take at least 4-5 years to complete! The reason being is that there are only 2 professors qualified to teach the classes. One of which is the chief information officer of the college (I think he made up the title). Now it is a cheap college under 1000 bucks per semester and around 300 to 400 bucks for books, but I really don’t think an Associates degree should take 5 years.

Now I have a couple of questions for the masses:

1. Is a college degree better then a bunch of certificates from different companies, i.e. Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, Redhat?
2. What is more recognized in the tech field degrees or certifications? Meaning if I walked into an interview with a degree vs. certifications which would fair better?
3. Would it be better if I got a BS in Information Systems, or Networking, to throw out a few choices, and then a few specialized certifications?
4. If you have taken online certification classes, where did you take them from? I figure I could keep going to college and get the certifications online at my own pace i.e. quicker then 4-5 years!

Thanks for your help, its great having access to people who are in the field im trying to get into.

Tyler

Personally if I were looking to hire for a programming/admin position I would be more interested in the specialized certifications (assuming they applied to the skill sets I was looking for)

You attend HACC, don't you?

The reason I ask is that I'm in the Web Dev program at HACC, a comm coll in central PA. They haven't offered some of the REQUIRED courses for that program in over a year, and they're not offering ANYTHING I need for the program this upcoming semester.

I too am seriously considering just pushing for a cert instead of going for the degree. After I do that, I'll just go to a real college where it's actually possible to graduate.

Also, bear in mind that if it's going to take that long to get the degree, by the time you get it your conceptual knowledge will be ok, but any product-specific knowlege (and many colleges seem to have turned into glorified training programs for companies like MS, Novell, Cisco, and Oracle...) will likely be useless or at least not "in demand".

I personally am looking to start doing some certifications on the side, then working through miscellaneous degree X (probably CS).

Not an answer, but something to chew on at least.

Well,

Degree 0
Certification 2

It does make sense to get certified more then a degree because usually you go for a job interview for a specific job with specific qualifications and requirements obviously certifications are special areas of qualifications. Well I’ve always wanted to be a CSI, I did see some certification on the net for computer forensics. If you have taken courses online were the costs high? I did look into one site but it was so confusing on how they offered classes, I think they mainly specialized in the actual tests and offered classes on DVD or CD for more money.

Make that: Certification: 3, Degree 0.
From the above list, skip the Novell courses - they're a waste of your time.

MCSE could be useful... so could some kind of Unix/Linux certification. Stay away from online courses or courses on CD/DVD, unless you're just using these to suppliment classroom experiences. Corps won't take that CD/online stuff seriously on a resume.

Get your degree. You'll be a better rounded individual after going through college and it will better prepare you for the real-world. I have both. Bachelors in CIS to go with my MCSE, A+, and Linux+ certs. Many companies are looking for individuals with degrees instead of certs because they've been burned in the past by people who cheated to get their certs and didn't know jack-squat when it came time to show their stuff. Some companies will hire you if you have a degree and a little experience and pay for you to get the certs.

For you guys who suggested certs....do you guys have either? Are you actually in the work-force? Just curious on where your opinions are coming from.

I think in the long term he / she should be going for the degree, but for the time-being a cert is better than nothing.

My opinion is based on the fact that he seems to be in the same boat as me. I have a job administering a medium-sized Intranet and I'm TRYING to get a degree, but it's just an extremely daunting task to find a program anymore that isn't either ridiculously overpriced, a glorified company training course, or both. At the moment, I'm sitting here with 42 worthless credits. I need 26 more to get my AS, but the school won't offer the required courses. My other option is Duquesne, but they don't offer the specific program I want. I can go to Penn State, but they're obnoxious bastards and won't transfer hardly anything (so you have to pay them more). Otherwise, there aren't many options. It's just getting to be ridiculously hard to get a good education in this field.

I think for now, cert is a temporary fix. It needs to be supplemented by a GOOD BS at some point, however.

And yes, companies got burned by a lot of cert-happy buffoons who could barely find the power switch (especially MCSEs), but there are some that are still worth something. If you have the experience to back it up, you might even get a job with them.

At any rate, MY vote is for both - but if you can't get the degree, cert now and work on the degree when you have the chance (oh - and start looking for a new school... maybe we'll meet each other in the search )

I'll have to agree with you completely CTB. Let's put it this way. If you're just coming out of high school or have a decent University near-by that you can attend then definitely do that. Your Bachelors will take you much farther than most any cert. The mistake people make is thinking that getting a cert will get them a job, you won't find many companies that will give someone any sort of admin role in a company if they have absolutely ZERO experience and a bunch of letters after their name. The best you can hope for by going the cert route is getting your A+ and maybe an MCP and starting off at the bottom doing helpdesk, then moving up from there.

If you have the opportunity to go to college then definitely do it. You can get your certs when you join the 'real-world' as I did.

I have a degree, and I'm a professional programmer. I think you have good points about getting both certs & a degree... I guess it depends on his financial situation. Certs are generally less expensive, and offer a way to get some credibility, score a f/t gig, and have a steady income stream while pursuing higher ed. If finances aren't an issue, then perhaps the degree is the best route.

I have to agree that some people who have certs don’t know jack, but most of my professors can't find there way around a computer, one of them told my friend that a homebuilt system would cost thousands of dollars for a normal desktop PC and at least 700 bucks for a motherboard, he actually has a doctorate in computer science, he must take after bush, straight C student I work for the college doing multimedia support for the professors i.e. power points, online course maintenance and pretty much everything else with a computer that they can’t do. I'm pretty fortunate I have been able to live with my parents who float the bill for college as well.
I'm going in to talk to one of the councilors, and my degree advisor, hopefully I can get some things set straight. For instance one of the required classes for my computer networking degree is oracle/Interdev programming but after further investigation it has NEVER been taught because no one knows how to use it, now that’s sad.

Tyler

I'm still in senior schooling, so most of what I say may not apply here....bah.

But anyway, personally I am going for a Diploma in Programming, plus one in Network Management. Not because I have to have them (not in my future field), but because they're helpful. Pieces of paper are always good, but should never be required, imo.

I am also going to get some Cisco certifications, plus a couple Linux ones in the future. Certifications are good because most of them come from hands-on work (here, anyway).

But am I going for anything higher after either of the two diplomas? Not unless I feel really motivated to, which won't be anytime soon. Uni bites in Australia. TAFE is where it's at (sorry, ramble).

It's not the pieces of paper you have, it's the experience you've got and the skills you have - and how willing you are to develop them, IMO.



Haha! Wow, there's a prime example of someone with no experience and that pieces of paper don't count for much ... you can build a decent PC here in Aus. for around $800 AUD, if you know where to shop.

...My 2c.

I could easily build a PC that would run around 7K. Of course, I could build a NORMAL PC for around 600-1500 too depending on what I was looking to do with it.

Coding:

The Oracle / Interdev thing is familiar. Here at this school they're short on teachers too. In my JavaScript class, I would up answering almost all of the student (and the occasional teacher) questions because they made some poor C++/Delphi schmuck teach the course when they couldn't find anyone else to do it. That's one of the reasons that it's so hard to get a decent education in the field: so few qualified teachers.

Oh, and I don't want to scare you, but if you go for cert, you WILL need experience to back it up. As was previously mentioned, you can almost certainly get in on the ground floor with A+ doing help desk / support work, but if you want an admin position, you have to have experience, references, and a degree. There's a glut of tech monkeys available in the marketplace right now who are willing to work for much lower salaries than in years past, so competition is pretty tough at the moment. I think going for a cert and getting your hands dirty while you work toward a degree is probably the best route for youngsters like us.

I have met many people with Certs who have no clue at all even about the subject they are certified in so I tend to not like certifications.

However, as I discussed in my book, certification is a great way to get in the door if you are not the type of person that wants to go to schoo. You should not expect expect to move up the ladder at a medium sized or large company though if all you have is a cert. You are just not as well rounded with a certification as you are with a college degree.

The thing you have to look at is, what is the difference between a certification and a degree? A certification certifies that you have a miniumum amount knowledge about a certain subject. A degree means you know how to learn because the whole idea of college is to teach you how to learn on your own and that you have certain skills relevant to your degree.

So in reality you have to go the route you want to go but I just figured I would give you my view point on it

I suppose it can depend on the Cert courses you take as well. I was recently speaking to a guy from Cisco who was heartily recommending the Cisco certs. Only problem is they cost some major $$$.